1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to probe devices, and more particularly to probe devices for testing electrical characteristics of a semiconductor element (chip or die) such as a plurality of integrated circuits formed on a semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a semiconductor manufacturing process, a disk-like semiconductor wafer fixed to a dicing frame is cut into a plurality of chips (dies) by a dicing device in a dicing process. Before or after the dicing process, a wafer test process of inspecting electrical characteristics of each of the chips is performed, and a probe device is used in the wafer test process.
The probe device is used for allowing probes of a probe card which is connected to a tester to be brought into contact with electrode pads of chips. The probe device is configured to supply power and various test signals to each chip from the tester through the probe, and to allow the tester to acquire a response signal outputted from the electrode of each chip through the probe so that the response signal is analyzed to check whether each chip works normally (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-95938 (PTL1) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-222851 (PTL 2)). There is known a probe device among probe devices of this type, which is capable of fixing a wafer which is fixed to a dicing frame to a stage and performing a test on the wafer regardless of before or after dicing.